Chain of Hope
by socialgirl378
Summary: What if two strangers have actually met before in a dream? That is the case with an unseated shinigami and a human. For too long, she's been dragged into the darkness for eternity. Soon, someone will free her, and bring her to the light. This cover art is done by burnedbacon from Deviantart.


Disclaimer: Bleach clearly belongs to Tite Kubo or else things would have been different.

 _Rukia's POV_

Falling... is all I can do. Tentacles of darkness pulling me in. Trying to drag me under, to drown in the darkness below. No. I must reach the light! Panic is filling my mind, I have to fight back. Try to remove the black tentacles from my body. Yet, no matter how much I rip them off, more keep coming. They are grabbing my arms, legs, and my waist.

"HELP!"

I'm screaming now, hoping someone will save me. But... no one is coming. The black threads are now blocking my eyesight. I'm terrified that I will never see my friends, Ukitake-taicho, Renji, and Nii-sama ever again. Nonetheless, I still scream for help. What's the use? It's over.

 _Ichigo's POV_

What the fuck?! What kind of place is this?! I'm standing at some kind of forest which I don't recall being there before. Why am I in my school uniform? What is going on?!

"HELP!"

Help? Immediately, I start running through the forest.

Someone was is in danger, and I had to get there. I know it sounds like I'm probably risking my life for someone I never even met, but who else is gonna do it?! There's no one else in the forest except me and... the source of that loud screaming. It continues to get louder as I get closer, until I got to the edge where I see... a cliff. "Whoa! Whoa!" Okay, that was way too close.

I could've fallen off right there. Now, where's that-

"AAAAAAAH!"

I quickly look over the end of the cliff, and a small hand appeared among those swirling, black tentacles that certainly look menacing. I need a closer look, So looks like I'm climbing down the cliff. The dirt is freakin' slippery, I better be careful or else I'll slip and fall.

Okay, from where I am now I'm able to make out frilly, dark laces from the ends of a dark dress. Wait, a dress? The banshee-like screams came from a girl? Makes sense. Her skin looks rather light compared to the blackness surrounding her. Too bad I can't see her face, even though I'm not exactly good at remembering faces.

She seems to have shoulder length raven-colored hair, by the fact it's shorter than those tentacles. Alright, make sure I have a good grip on this exposed root. Now I just need to reach my hand out to her. Better get her attention.

"Hey! Are you alright?"

 _Rukia's POV_

Are you alright? Are you alright?! What kind of an idiot says that? I'm clearly NOT ALRIGHT! I'm being dragged to the depths of never-ending darkness and my possible rescuer's first words is that?! *Sigh* At least I know I'm not alone in this strange hell.

"Just please, get these things off me." I can do nothing else but, wait for his response, hoping he's still there.

Really, I'm actually just glad someone heard my cry for help; otherwise, I have no idea what to do. Sad I'm unable to see what he looks like, due to these threads covering my eyes. The only way I know he's with me is by the sound of his voice.

"Don't worry, I'll get you out."

 _Ichigo's POV_

I climbed down a few more meters, have to get closer to reach her. Boy, this is a lot harder than I thought. Trying to make sure I don't get myself killed, checking the amount of pressure each freakin' piece of gravel can carry by putting my right foot on it. So far, I haven't fallen to my death yet. Not sure if it is a good idea to joke about it.

"Well, hurry! They're starting to pull me down!"

Finally reaching to where she's at, I take a firm grip with my left hand, and reach out with my right, "Oi! Grab my hand."

Immediately, I can see her hand trying to reach mine. Her small fingers desperately wanting to cling to my own. I'm so close to saving her. NO! She is being pulled away from me.

"Aaahhh!"

"NO!"

 _Rukia's POV_

I thought if my hand reached his, I would be safe. Instead, those black tentacles successfully dragged me down from salvation. A scream is escaping my lips; I can feel myself drifting from the outside world, blackness caving in. There is no way to escape.

"NO!" I hear his last word, before the sound became no more. Funny, he seems so familiar to me, and I don't even know his name at all. I whisper goodbye as darkness consumes me.

 _Ichigo's POV_

At this point, there was nothing I can do except watch the girl fade into the dark abyss below. It felt like I just lost someone close to me, yet I've never seen that person before this.

"FUCK!" I shouted out, hearing my voice echo within the cliff.

 ***RUMBLE***

What the? The ground is starting to shake, rocks are tumbling down. Oh shit. Have to get back to the top, I'm grappling onto the cliff's rocky terrain. But, I can hear a loud crack, coming from the cliff itself. Looking down there is a crack forming its way up.

"Crap! Gotta get out of here fast!"

 ***SNAP***

Oh no. I'm falling to my own death. This is not supposed to be happening! I can't die yet! I don't even know where the hell is this place?! I still want to protect!

"Aaaah!"

What? It was all a dream?! My eyes open to find myself back in my room. Pulled back the covers I can see I'm still in my pjs. Okay, that was strange. Usually, nightmares like that are only about the day Kaa-san died six years ago. Now, it's something else entirely.

A lot of questions are going through my head, but the one that I keep going back to is: Who is she?

 _Rukia's POV_

Huh? It happened again. I quickly look around to see that I'm inside my room at the mansion. The black dress I wore in my dream is now replaced with my simple white kimono. Normally, nobody ever came to save me from those tentacles dragging my body into neverending darkness. I've been having that dream for as long as I can remember; I never told anyone about it, because I didn't want them to worry.

Even Kaien-dono didn't know what was happening to me every night. After his death, they were once replaced by reliving the fateful night over and over, until they came back at me. But now, someone did come to try to save me, someone who I never met before. Who is he? How did he appear in my dream?

Those questions may be answered. But, who knows? Strange things can happen to anyone at a certain time; it's only a matter of when it will happen. Maybe I'll hear his voice again when I dream, and maybe I'll be able to see him next time.

 **Author's Note: Wow, I love how this turned out. Yes, this is a two-shot, so just faved it on the bottom after you finished typing up your review. If there are any readers of my other stories out there, sorry that I'm making you guys wait for a new chapter. New ideas kept popping up and they don't seem to stop. Also, I was inspired to write this through a book series I read a year ago, and if any of you recognize what this story is similar to, just simply give me your answer on your review. FYI, their shared dream took place a month before they met. I would like to thank Leonas for beta-reading this chappie!**


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